Infosys ADR’s 40% spike is linked to a “bizarre” technical glitch, report says

While India’s second largest IT services company Infosys on Friday dismissed all material reasons for the excessive rise in its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a report by a Canada-based newspaper, The Chronicle Journal, has linked the development to a bizarre technical glitch related to ticker mapping.“The ‘mystery’ behind this move appears to be rooted in a bizarre technical glitch in ticker mapping. In the days leading up to the surge, several prominent financial data providers – including Zacks Investment Research and MarketBeat – began misidentifying the ‘INFY’ ticker as ‘American Noble Gas Inc.’ in their automated reports,” the report said.

“While the financial metrics and news headlines associated with the ticker still referenced Infosys’ massive AI investments and $75 billion market cap, the name mismatch is believed to have confused automated trading algorithms. These systems, designed to hunt for ‘mispriced’ assets or sudden momentum shifts, likely interpreted the discrepancy in the data as a signal to buy, creating a feedback loop that drove price action in the thin liquidity of a year-end Friday strengthened,” the report further said.

Infosys ADRs hit a new 52-week high of $30 on Friday, up 40%, thus forcing the exchange to halt trading twice after volatility hit the roof. The chaos started early in the trading session.

On Thursday, Infosys ADRs settled at around $19.18.

The abrupt rally was short-lived as Infosys ADRs finally settled at $20.22, up $1.04 or 5.42% amid heavy volumes totaling 118.7 million.

Infosys Answer

The company clarified that there were no material events requiring disclosure under the Sebi (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015,” the exchange filing said.

Read more: Infosys ADRs: Here’s what the company said about unprecedented 40% spike, trading pause

Ripple effect

The Infosys event also had a major impact on Wipro ADRs, which ended 7% higher at $3.06 after hitting the day’s high of $3.09.

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